Grain-car door.



M. A. RUBLE 61 C. M. STEVENS.

GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3. m4.

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M. A. RUBLE & C. M. STEVENS.

GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 3. x914.

2 SHEUS ''SHEET 2.

Patented Got. 19, 19'15.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIcE.

MARTIN A. RUBLE AND CARL M. STEVENS, OF ESMOND, NORTH DAKOTA.

GRAIN-CAR DOOR.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

Application and September a, 1914. Serial No. 860,076.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MARTIN A. RUBLF. and CARL M. S'rEvExs, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Esmond, in the county of Benson and Stateof Xorth Dakota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inGrain-Car Doors; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art tov which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to improvements in grain car doors and moreparticularly to those of the flexible vertically movable type.

' The main object of the invention is to provide, in connection with adoor of the above mentioned character, a pair of combined door guidingand clamping members whereby said door may be readily guided in itsupward movements and rigidly clamped in any one of its adjustedpositions.

A further object is to provide coacting wedging members on the door andon the sill of the door frame, said members acting to effectuallyprevent any leakage of grain when the door is in either raised orlowered position.

Yet another object of the invention is to.

construct the entire device in the most simple manner consistent withits proper proportion.

With the above and minor objects in view, the invention resides incertain novel features of construction and combination herein describedand claimed and shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a grain car equipped with adoor constructed in accordance with our invention; Figs. 2 and .3 arevertical sections taken on the line 23 of Fig. 1 sho ing respectivelythe raised and lowered positions of the door; Fig. 4 is a horizontalsection taken on the line 44 of Fig. 2;..Fig. 5 is a similar view .takenon the line 5 -5 thereof; Figs. 6 and 7 are fragmentary rospective viewsof sections of the. door employed respectively at the upper [and lowerends thereof; Fig. 8 is a detail vefitical section showing the form ofratchet lever, preferably employed as hereinafter set'forth} and Fig. 9is an edge view of a portion of the door.

In the accompanying drawings, we have shown a portion of the grain car Cwhich includes the usual longitudinal sills S, and transverse sills s,the usual floor 7' supported upon said sills, door frame F, and slidingdoor D. p

The construction so far described forms no part of the present inventionand is simply illustrated for the purpose of disclosing its application.Since the construction em-. ployed at each side of the door isidentical, we have illustrated that located upon one side only.

Coming more particularly to the details of the invention, a pair ofupright wear plates 1 are secured by means of screws 2 or theequivalents thereof, to the inner surfaces of the upright sides of theframe F, said plates extending from the top of said frame to the bottomthereof as clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3 and being equipped with uprightguide rails 3 on their inner edges, said rails being secured to saidplates in any suitable manner but being preferably formed integrallytherewith as clearly shown in Fig. 4. By reference more particularly toFig. 4 it will be seen that the plates 1' are provided with threadedears 4 which project toward the opposite ends of the car, said threadedears being designed for a purpose to be described.

Spaced outwardly from the fixed guide rails 3, are movable guide rails 5which contact with the plates 1 and which are provided with aperturedears 6 lying parallel with the threaded ears 4, said ears 6 pro jectingthrough guide notches 7 formed in the outer edges of the plates 1 andreceiving rotatably. in their apertures, unthreaded ends of transverseclamp screws 8 whose threaded ends are engaged with the threadedopenings in the ears 4 whereby, when said screws 8 are rotated by doubleactingratchet levers 9 (constructed as seen in Fig. 8 or the equivalentsthereof, the movable rails 5 will be moved inwardly or outwardlyaccording to the direction in which said screws are retated.

As most clearly seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the floor f is provided with alongitudinal slot which is located adjacent the sills S, whileongitudinal plates 10, are secured to the mounted, between the fixed andmovable guide rails 3 and 5, is a flexible door 12-, said door beinghere shown as constructed of a plurality of bars or plates 13, 13, and13", said bars or plates being provided with inter-engaging tongues andgrooves on their adjacent edges and being loosely connected by pivotedlinks 14 secured to their oppositeends.

The bar 13 which is located at the extreme upper end of the door 12, isprovided with longitudinal ribs 15 on the inner and outer sides of itsupper end, said ribs terminating adjacent the inner edges of the guides3 and 5 and being beveled on their under sides to closely engage theupper halves of the V- shaped .wedging ribs 11, when the door is inlowered or inactive position.

The bar 13 which is located near the bottom of the door 12, is providedwith longitudinal wedging ribs 15 on its lower corners, said ribs 15being beveled on their upper sides to snugly engage the lower halves ofthe V-shaped wedging ribs 11, when the door is in raised position. Itwill be noted by reference to the drawings, that the ribs 15 likewiseterminate adjacent the inner ends of the guides 3 and 5. By thusconstructing the bars 13 and 13 leakage of grain at the lower end of thedoor or when unloading the grain with the door in lowered position, ispositively prevented. This is an extremely important feature of ourinvention.

For the purpose of moving the door 12 upwardly or outwardly, we mayemploy any appropriate mechanism but preferably provide a longitudinalshaft 16 which 'isrevolubly mounted in certain of the sills 5-, saidshaft being located directly above transverse guides 20 which aredesigned to receive the door 12 when the same is in lowered. position.The shaft 16 is provided with one or more star wheels 17 and with a.double acting ratchet lever 18, which is constructed in the same manneras the lever 9 shown in Fig. 8. The teeth of said wheels 17 are designedto engage the inner adjacent edges of the various bars of the door 12,said edges being beveled or rounded for-this purpose as clearly seen inFigs. 2 and 3. Since the inner rib 15 on the bar 13*, lies in the pathof the teeth of said wheels 17, said rib is notched as indicated at 19thereby to receive said teeth.

lVith the parts as above described, the ratchet lever 18 may beoscillated thereby causing the wheels 17-to move the door 12 upwardly ordownwardly 'as the case may be, it being understood that the movablerails 5 now stand in retracted position.-

"wedged snugly between the coacting portions of the ribs 11 therebyeffectually preventing leakage of grain. Both movable rails 5 are nowmoved inwardly to clamp the 'fl'it edges of the door whereby leakage ofgrain at any point is positively prevented. When unloading the car, itwill be evident that the door must be lowered, in which position'theribs 15 will wedge between the coacting portions of the ribs 11 therebypreventing leakage of grain at this time.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, the construction and operation of our inventionwill be readily understood without requiring a more extendedexplanation.

Havin thus described our invention, What we desire to secure by LettersPatent is:

1. The combination with an upright rectangular frame and a Yerticallymovable closure therein, of upright flat plates secured to the innersides of the upright side bars of the frame and continuing throughoutthe length thereof, said plates having notches in their outer edges,upright rigid clamping rails carried by the inner edge portions of theplates and continuing throughout the length thereof, upright movableclamping rails contacting with the outer edge portions of said platesand continuing throughout the length thereof, perforated ears projectinglaterally from said movable rails through said notches in the plates,horizontal scrr vs revolubly mounted in and held against longitudinalshifting in said ears, threaded ears formed on the outer sides ofsaid'plates and into which said screws are threaded, and means forrotating said screws, the edges of the closure being slidable betweenthe fixed and movable rails.

52. The combination with an upright rectangular frame having alongitudinal slot in and continuing throughout the length of its sill,and a vertically movable closure in said frame, the lower end of saidclosure depending through said slot, of a pair of flat plates secured tothe top of said sill on opplates into the'slot, said flanges beingsubset our hands in presence of two subscrihing stantially V-shape incross section and-hav- Witnesses. ing the outer sides of their anglesdisposed inwardly adjacent the closure, and means on the upper and lowerends of said closure to wedge between said flanges, when the closureWitnesses:

is open or closed. A. J. ENGEL,

In testimony whereof We have hereunto E. C. CRAIG.

